Any company, large or small, uses communication in its work. This may be a cell phone, the Internet, a network for communication with regional units, a satellite, etc. If the company is large enough, and its units are located in different regions of the same country or in different countries, then the amount it spends on communication services can be quite substantial.
The problem is that combined communication methods are, firstly, not very effective (if it is just a mixture of different types of communication), and secondly, they are expensive. There are solutions to this problem, and one of them is software-defined networks, SDN. They are becoming more and more popular technology: according to experts, the average annual growth of the SDN market is about 55% .
SDN technologies make it possible to support the most diverse communications equipment and software, managing this entire zoo as a whole. Reconfiguring the network in this case takes a minimum of time - a matter of hours instead of days or even weeks.
Well, the most promising area here is SD-WAN, these are dynamic hybrid networks that include several network connection methods, including broadband access, 3G, LTE. SD-WAN Center is a controller that allows you to quickly and flexibly manage network settings, including information security policies.
Why is all this necessary?
SD-WAN is becoming an increasingly popular area of network technology development for a number of reasons:
- First, SD-WANs provide the ability to work with hybrid composite clouds;
- Secondly, they allow the company to flexibly and quickly manage network connections, as mentioned above.
This technology allows you to reduce operating costs by maintaining the operational state of the telecommunications infrastructure of the company by 48% per year. Capital costs are reduced by 52%.
In addition, SD-WAN allows you to optimize network load, standardize cybersecurity requirements, quickly integrate new technology with existing ones, and, finally, improve automation and self-provisioning of resources.
Use SD-WAN not only in business, but also in other areas. So, relatively recently, one of the TV channels had a problem with maintaining the necessary channel bandwidth for broadcasting from Formula 1. In addition, the same technology made it possible to collect and analyze data generated by a racing car in real time. And there is a lot of data - in a couple of days one car transfers about 400 GB of information. This is a collection of data collected by IoT sensors that are installed throughout the car, including the engine.
Real-time data analysis allows you to predict problems and solve them before they become critical. Last year, AT&T and Red Bull Racing signed a contract according to which the telecom operator provided the team with SD-WAN-based network infrastructure.
What to expect from SD-WAN in 2020?
Four trends are now visible:
SD-WAN technology will allow companies to monitor the quality of applications and services on the network. So, now it is far from enough to control the network and receive updates on the state of equipment and communication channels. As a result, the operator gets a complete picture of the status of the system and understands why some applications or services are not very stable. As a result, the company's network will become more “transparent” for everyone, so it will be easier to work with it.
In addition, the same trend includes the automatic generation of analytical reports. They reflect information about how the company's network worked, what problems and when they arose. If problems have not yet arisen, then reports help to see deviations from the norm in the operation of the equipment, which makes it possible to solve problems still “on the way”.
SDN-WAN gradually reduces the cost of communication for companies. This has been said above, and indeed it is. For example, in the corporate network, the main importance is attached to the quality of the main and alternative Internet connection. SD-WAN allows you to monitor the quality of the network, downloading a portion of the “heavy” application traffic, for example, instant messengers, onto a wide channel. This is beneficial for business because such an approach makes it possible to save money by refusing to upgrade an expensive communication channel.
Improving resiliency. Despite the fact that networks and SD-WAN technologies are becoming more and more common over time, there are problems in this area. So, the main communication channel may sometimes not work too well due to a variety of reasons. Now experts suggest using an alternative communication channel, and only critical applications can be transferred to it. So, if the main channel does not work very well, you can unload it using the alternative - a spare communication channel. And communication problems are not all, in general, we are talking about the possibility of switching application traffic from one channel to another. This will allow efficient use of existing communication channels.
Simplify and increase the speed of reconfiguring an existing network. Here we are talking about Zero-Touch Provisioning (ZTP), that is, the possibility of installing and configuring a terminal device without leaving a specialist in the field. The main thing is to connect the device to network cables and power, and then it will do everything automatically in automatic mode. The human administrator can only polish some points and finalize the hardware and software settings.
What is the best place to start exploring SD-WAN?
C small - test SD-WAN in a separate, small, area. True, in this case, you will have to spend time exchanging data with the internal corporate network, which may not be so simple. Well, if all the tests showed a high result, then you can implement the technology in other areas.
To do this, you can use the solution from Zyxel Nebula SD-WAN . The solution is implemented at the hardware level in the Zyxel VPN series of firewalls and runs under the control of the Nebula Orchestrator software platform .
In general, for many business sectors of various sizes, SD-WAN is a real salvation. This technology makes it possible to improve the overall performance of the entire network. It predicts and solves a number of technological problems, increase information security and generally does everything to make the network work normally.
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